TIMBER GEO WING IN THE LODGEPOLE PINE REGION 13 
leakable ash pans, the fire danger can be greatly reduced. Speeder 
patrol is desirable on all roads, and on some is essential. In any 
event, it is a burden to be assumed by the railroad and not by the 
timber owner. 
Since 1921, campers and smokers have been responsible for most 
of the fires in the forests of this region. Lightning starts a good 
many fires, but usually on the high, rocky ridges, where continuous 
bodies of timber do not occur. Throughout the southern and eastern 
portions of the region lightning is generally accompanied by enough 
precipitation to render damage from this source negligible. 
At the present time there is only one private protective agency 
in the region. It is made up of a group of summer-home owners 
near Denver who have formed a cooperative organization known 
as the Denver Mountain Parks Improvement and Protective Asso- 
ciation. A similar group near Colorado Springs is considering the 
advisability of organizing both for fire protection and to encourage 
better cutting practice. 
Montana and Idaho are the only States having organized systems 
of fire protection. In addition to State land, this protection also 
covers private holdings not so located as to< be protected by other 
means. In Montana men are also furnished to work with the Federal 
Forest Service organization under the fire-cooperative provision of 
the Clarke-McNary law. In addition, this State has contributed 
on a proportionate basis toward paying the costs of protecting the 
State lands that are located within or adjoining national forests. By 
these means satisfactory protection is established. 
The Forest Service is the only other agency in the region having 
a fire-protection organization. But many private landowners are 
assisting by financial cooperation. Landowners who can not readily 
and economically do their own protective work deposit annually with 
the Government sums estimated as necessary to pay for the protec- 
tion. The Northern Pacific Railroad thus provides for the protec- 
tion of its holdings in Montana within or adjacent to the Absaroka, 
Gallatin, Beartooth, and Helena National Forests. Its deposits are 
made on the basis of Forest Service expenditures, the company pay- 
ing its proportion of the protection costs, and, in addition, paying 
for fire suppression on a pro rata basis. 
Every employee of the Forest Service is impressed with the fact 
that his first duty lies in protecting the forests from fire ; during sea- 
sons of the year when fires occur prevention and suppression take 
precedence over every other activity. In addition, assistance is given 
the regular force by the employment of men who serve as lookouts 
and patrolmen for temporary periods when the fire danger warrants. 
In northern Colorado and in Wyoming, where the loclgepole pine 
type predominates, each ranger is responsible for fire protection on a 
district of about 150,000 acres, and the average yearly cost of fire pro- 
tection and suppression amounts to about iy 2 cents per acre. In a 
portion of Colorado where the Engelmann spruce type prevails, each 
ranger is responsible for such protection and suppression on approxi- 
mately 200,000 acres, and the expense is about 1 cent per acre. 
Conditions in these two localities are fairly representative of the 
region. In the lodgepole area 42 year-long rangers are employed, 
who are assisted by 4 lookouts and 6 guards for an average period of 
